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Persuasive Essay On School Lunch Program

Decent Essays

One in six children in the United States do not know when they will get their next meal. Children who are facing hunger struggle in school, are more likely to repeat a grade, have developmental concerns and have behavioral problems. The National School Lunch Program has brought meals to millions of children from food insecure families for free or reduced rates.
Policy Description
To ensure the health of children in the United States, and to encourage school aged children to eat nutritious meals, President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act in 1946. Today, the National School Lunch Program(NSLP) is a federally assisted program that provides children from low income families free lunches in public and private schools. The meals are nutritionally balanced, based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and offered at a reduced rate or free to children whose families met the qualifications. (Dietary Guidelines for Americans )In 2012 the NSLP offered lunches to over 31 million children each school day. To qualify for the school lunch program, families must earn at or below $44,000 annually for a family of four, which was about 51% of school aged children in 2012. The poverty rate for a family of four in 2017 is $24,600. The NSLP will feed children whose families are almost twice the poverty rate (National School Lunch Program, 2017).
Prevalence

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